Right Opposition

President Obama wants to expand loan guarantees to the nuclear power industry as a way to promote green energy options. That’s an acceptable goal and does move us off of a dependence on foreign oil.

However loan subsides are not the right way to go to achieve that goal. The Heritage Foundation in a post called Conditions and Policy Reforms Must Accompany Nuclear Loan Guarantee Boost says this:

“they create taxpayer liabilities, give recipients preferential treatment, and distort capital markets. Further, depending on how they are structured, they can remove incentives to decrease costs, stifle innovation, suppress private-sector financing solutions, perpetuate regulatory inefficiency, and encourage government dependence.”

The critical factor is the shift in the markets that government subsides create. The better idea is remove the massive hurdles and provide a raid path to certification of new systems. In fact, the government could promote a “type-acceptance” which would allow rapid deployment of new reactor systems. Bringing new plants online quickly is the best way to help the economy, green the energy sector and provide greater economic security.

It’s basic economics Mr. President. Do some reading.

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